Thursday: Reforming No Child Left Behind

The bill would end more than 70 federal education programs and the federal government’s metrics for measuring school performance, changes that GOP supporters say are needed to give states more control over education. The bill also gives states more authority to set educational funding priorities, eliminates federal requirements for teachers, and is aimed at promoting charter schools.

{mosads}The Republican bill was approved by the House Education amd the Workforce Committee in a partisan vote, and the bill is likely to pass the House in a mostly partisan vote.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday approved a rule for the bill that allows 26 amendments to be considered — 15 from Republicans, seven from Democrats, and four bipartisan proposals.

The House will start Thursday by debating and passing the rule, and then move to general debate and amendment consideration. But the House is expected to pass the bill on Friday.

The Senate starts at 9:30 a.m., and could hold a vote on Tom Perez to be the next secretary of Labor. Perez survived a 60-40 vote on Wednesday on a motion to end debate on his nomination — 60 votes were needed.

The Senate could also be able to make progress on the nomination of Gina McCarthy to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.